Abuse of power and authority: rape by coercion.

Abstract

There is a common misperception that rape can only be committed if a man uses physical violence to overpower anon-consenting woman and that the woman has physical injuries to prove that she resisted. As will be seen below,rape can be committed in a whole range of situations where there has been no actual physical violence or threats of violence. One such situation is where the man uses coercion to induce a woman to submit to having sexual relations with him.There are a whole range of situations where a male with power,influence or authority over a female can abuse that power,influence or authority in order to have sexual relations with the female. Such cases should be charged as rape as the female has been coerced into having sexual relations when she does not wish to do so. Because of gender inequalities and gender discrimination, it is predominately males who are in a position to abuse their authority to sexually exploit female and sometimes even their male subordinates.6 However, females who are in positions of authority over males could also coerce men into having sexual relations with them.